Tag: Chase Community Giving

We’re excited to announce today that YouthBuild Philly is one of 25 organizations in a national contest to win anywhere from $125,000 to $1,000,000 (yes, that’s one million dollars!) through the American Giving Awards program presented by Chase. The winners will be decided through online voting, starting November 27th and ending December 4th. Winning organizations will be announced at a nationally televised awards ceremony on December 8th.

We are the only program representing Philadelphia in this competition, and the only YouthBuild program. We’re so proud to represent both communities to a national audience. Contest-wide, we’re only up against 24 other organizations to win $1,000,000. The competition for the 5th-place $125,000 prize is just four other organizations doing work in Youth Development. We have a real shot at this – but we need your help!

Thanks to the support of our students, staff, and friends — 2344 in all — we finished #45 out of thousands of organizations competing in Chase Community Giving! More importantly, we will be able to contribute $25,000 toward our post-secondary initiative. This prize money will help us better serve our students and graduates as they prepare and transition to college, trade schools, and careers.

The best part about a voting competition is that every person’s voice counts equally, and we are proud that our students were able to rally so many votes to support their school. The Class of 2011 certainly left its mark on YouthBuild!

Lastly, we are amazed by the outpouring of support from our friends in Philadelphia and across the country. Each vote was a vote of confidence for the future of these young people, and each vote truly made a difference!

Finishing in the Top 100 has now put us into the running for an even bigger prize – up to $500,000! You can check out our BIG IDEA video and learn how we will use the prize money.

We are the only program in Philadelphia, only Pennsylvania Charter School, only YouthBuild program, and one of only few AmeriCorps programs in the running for this prize, so we have a real shot, but we need your help.